


The Grateful Prince

by lover_of_blue_roses



Series: Johnica Week 2020 [4]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fairy Tale Style, Girl Power, woman to save the day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22286686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lover_of_blue_roses/pseuds/lover_of_blue_roses
Summary: To say the life of his son the King replaces him with some peasant girl to save the Prince from the sorcerer, but the Prince thinks this is a terrible wrong and vows to rescue her. Little does he know how clever and capable she is and that in fact it will be she that will rescue him.
Relationships: John Deacon/Veronica Tetzlaff
Series: Johnica Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602112
Kudos: 6
Collections: Johnica Week 2020





	The Grateful Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Retelling of the fairy tale 'A Grateful Prince'
> 
> Basically I couldn't decide for the first fairy tale day and I am technically considering this under the Alternative Universe prompt because that totes include fairy tales

In a far away land there lived a King. One day the King found himself travelling through woods he did not know. It did not take long for the King to grow lost. He wandered but he could not find his way, that is when he met an old man. This old man offered to guide him home. In exchange, however the old man demanded to be given the first thing that were to come out of the King's palace upon his return.

Recalling that his faithful and much beloved dog would always greet him upon his arrival, the King was displeased with the proposed deal. However, having no other choice, he reluctantly agreed. 

So the King followed the old man's directions and found his way out of the forest, returning home. Unexpectedly, when he reached his palace, the first thing to come out was his infant son, the son that had been born during his absence, in the arms of his nurse. The King's heart fell and a terrible dread overcame him. That was his first and only child, his treasured heir, he would allow no harm to the child so the King planned a deception to save his son.

As the child was so small and known by so few, he exchanged his son with a peasant's daughter and raised her as a princess. When it had been exactly one year since the old man had led him out of the forest, he arrived to claim his end of the bargain and the King handed the girl over. 

Overjoyed that his deception had worked, the king ordered for a lavish feast to celebrate his brilliance. In order to ensure that the old man did not learn of the deception, the King let his son grow up in the peasant's house. 

The young boy's foster parents got rewarded for their caring of the King's son and were content. The Prince however, whom had been named John, learns of this deception one day. He grows distraught, knowing that his whole life was a lie and that this other person, a stranger and yet just an innocent child suffered in his place. 

He can not bare to look into this parents- his foster parents- faces anymore. Here he had thought he was their son and that they loved him but it turns out to be pyrite. He is a Prince, *the* Prince, heir to the throne and destined to be king, for not only is the first born, he remains the sole royal child. It is hard, so hard, to have been told all of his life that he is a peasant's son, destined to be a peasant, to have it all be false, so completely false. These strangers are raising him for the money. For all he knows they might as easily turn him over as they did their daughter and live just as guiltlessly. He feels so wronged, the hurt is like a blade between his ribs. 

And yet as terrible as his fate is, these people that do not love him and this responsibility he has not been prepared for, he thinks often upon this girl that has taken his place, she must be the same age as him but he doubts she is even as lucky as to have people care for him as these fraudulent parents do. 

Often he thinks on her as he tills the land and works beneath the sun. While he has never been taught reading or writing, while he knows nothing of combat or strategies, he is still wise and clever and so he develops a plan to rescue her. 

Once he has prepared all that he will need, the young man leaves home dressed in a sack and carrying a bag of peas. He then enters the same forest his father was lost in those many years ago. For several hours Deacy walks in circles as though he was lost. Suddenly, a strange old man appears before him as though through magic and questions the young man as to where he is going.

Deacy lies and tells him he is headed to his aunt's funeral. As is custom in their land he was going to deliver peas to the watchers. He continues to lie and say that once there, he is to find work and support his now deceased aunt's children as to provide for them. The old man jumps on the opportunity to give the wanderer a job and the Prince agrees.

Happy that the 'naive' young man has accepted his offer, the old man twirls and sings as he escorts Deacy back to his secret home. As he skips ahead excitedly, leading him further into the woods, he does not notice the Prince dropping peas along the way. 

This strange man leads the young man into a dark, deep cave, where Deacy would have never thought to look. The darkness could hide many dangers but Deacy trusts and follows, he refuses to cower in fear until his 'parents' child is safe again. As they walk further and further into its depths, a pale light begins to glow above their heads.

With the coming of the light, Deacy is at last able to make out a shape in the darkness. First it is the countryside and then the animals that dwell there but it appears to be no natural place. The creatures do not move, the wind does not blow and absolute stillness reigns. There is no sound but the crunching of the ground beneath his feet and the sound of his breathing. 

They arrive at his house that too is so silent. Which is why it is all the more startling when suddenly, as loud as thunder, Deacy hears what sounds like a troupe of horses crashing through the brush. He screams and clings to the man's arm. "We must take cover!" but the man does not move. "What is-?! What is that noise?"

"No, no," reassures the old man, "It is only my kettle boiling." 

And he leaves to tend to the kitchen. When he is gone, John sits to calm himself when he hears the whirring of a saw-mil, so loud and near that he thinks it will cut him so and again he calls out, "What is it?! What is that noise?"

"It is only the sound of my grandmother snoring," dismisses the man. "If she is making that noise it means she will awake soon and she can not stand new faces, come you must hide in the kennel." 

Deacy doubts and does not like this talk but what can he do, he can not flee nor cower until he has rescued this stranger that has taken his place and so he does as is asked of him, although the kennel is small and dirty and the young man does not enjoy it. He can not move and it is dark and as quiet as the rest of this unnatural place. Deacy fears to fall asleep for he is not certain if his soul will be able to find its way back to his body should he dream.

Hours and hours pass before the old man beckons him back in. His anger at being confined so, vanishes when he catches sight of a beautiful brown-eyed maiden, although she refuses to look at him and quickly he schools his face into neutrality. While at first his heart soars, for surely it must be her! He is then brought crashing back down to earth, if this old man is willing to take two children, would he not take more. He has no idea how many children might be trapped here, in this silence place.

The young woman carefully brings out food and sets it on a table in the room. There is only one place setting although there is food enough for two to eat well and even three to eat comfortably. Somehow she seems completely unaware of Deacy's presence even though he stands in plain sight. The old man sits down before the place setting and eats ravenously. Not just in quantity but manner, allowing crumbs and juices to fall into his beard and smears upon his clothing. Once he is done and has eaten more than heartily but down right gluttonously, he says, "Girl! Give these scraps to this boy." 

She does as instructed but never lifts her gaze to look at Deacy. While the food has grown cold and is only the meat the clings to the bone and the bare mash that has clung to the pan's oils and fried, it is still enough to fill his stomach. He steps up to the table and goes to withdraw a chair but is told that he is not permitted to sit. Even though they are scraps, there is enough of them that he eats decently. 

"I am sure you have traveled far," the man says and Deacy does not deny him for truly this forest is far from the house he grew up in. "So you may rest two days in this house, but on the third day you will be put to work."

Deacy opens his mouth to speak, to thank him, to question him, it does not matter for the man raises a hand to stop him and forbids him to speak. So Deacy does not say anything and the maiden is instructed to show him is room.

He does as ordered and follows the girl, she is demure and dressed in poor clothing and yet no less beautiful. Even if she is not the peasant girl that took his spot, he doubts she is the man's true born daughter but rather a victim of his. Once in the privacy of his own rooms, he plots his next move. He has made it this far, he has to have faith in himself if he was to one day rule the kingdom.

On the second day time passed slowly with nothing to do and no way to figure out what he must do to help the maiden. Although he need not work, he drew water and hewed wood for her. While he did these few errands, he wandered this strange quiet farmstead. There were many animals to see, a calf cow with a white-faced calf, and sole in the stable, a white horse. 

On the third day, the old man gives him a task, to scythe enough grass for the horse to eat. Deacy is satisfied with this work and is willing and eager to do these tasks.

However when he is in the shed getting the scythe that will be needed, the maiden comes up behind him and whispers quietly in his ear, it is the first time she has spoken since he has been here, let alone to him. Although they should be far from the house with it's closed door, she still looks frightfully around as her voice does not exceed that of the wind upon prairie. After the last day of complete silence, it is all the better to hear another person speak that is not the commanding old man but her sweet voice. "Weave a rope from the grass, a strong rope. You must use this rope to threaten to bind its mouth shut or it will eat too much."

He nods to thank her for this advice and does as she has suggested. He first goes to where the grass grows tall and cuts it down to made feed for the horse, he takes some of this tall grass and weaves a rope. He doubts that if he was raised as a Prince ought to be, that he would know this skill. 

Once the rope is weaved, he enters the stables and stands before the horse. He feels a little foolish but in a land that is so unnatural as for there to be no sound, perhaps the animals hear better. He warns the horse that if it eats too much he will use this rope to bind its mouth shut. The horse looks up at him with real malice in its eyes but it does consent. Eating only the grass that Deacy scythed although it should have been enough to feed at least three horses. It appears the beast has an appetite as ghastly as its master.

On the next day, the old man sends Deacy to milk the cow of all its milk. When he goes into the shed to fetch a pail, again the maiden comes up behind him and whispers into his ear to help the newcomer, "Heat a pair of tongs and threaten to use them if the cow does not give all her milk." 

The prince smiles softly at her, silently thanking her again for the useful information but she barely looks up let alone into his eyes and again vanishes without a word. How must she have lived, how must she have been raised to act in such a manner? He was right to come here and rescue her, she did nothing to deserve this, not even by the horrible standards of this strange old man for it was he as an infant that first greeted his father. 

Deacy follows her advice and the cow indeed provides all its milk. And again when he provides the full pail to the old man, having successfully accomplished this task that should be impossible, he looks at the young man intently but does not say or do anything.

Then the old man sends him to bring in all the hay from the haystack. Deacy can see from the corner of his eye the maiden's eyes widen in fear and alarm, again this task must not be easy. She follows him again to the shed where he is to fetch the pitchfork and again her sweet voice whispers to him. "You yourself could not accomplish this task even if given a week." It's clear her mind is working feverishly behind her eyes, it seems she does not know how to easily solve this problem, but knows she must quickly think of an answer before the old man notices her missing. "You'll need to tie the horse to the haystack," she finally says. "And when the horse asks why you are counting, you are to say you are counting how many wolf packs you saw when entering this land."

Deacy nods to thank her for her advice and she softly touches him on the arm for courage before quickly turning away and back to her chores. And so the young man does as he was told and when he does, the horse grows terrified. beginning to run, quickly, hauling back the entire stack of hay.

This time when the Prince returns having accomplished this task, the old man makes no secret of his anger. He is furious at his success and so sends him on what is sure to be an even more difficult task. He asks him to bring the white-face calf to the pasture. 

It doesn't on its surface sound like that difficult of a task but the Prince is sure that in a land without noise, where cows and horses speak and understand language, it will not be as it seems. And indeed as he approaches the stable that holds the white-face calf, the maiden approaches behind him. "He grows more and more angry with every task you accomplish."

"That's what I'm counting on, for him to let his anger and fury blind him."

She is quiet for a moment more and John wonders if he should tell her that he is only angering the old man to free not only himself but her as well. Yet instead she continues to offer her very much needed help freely. "The calf will be frightened, he has never been away from his mother, and so he will try and escape you. You must tie him to yourself with silk thread to prevent his flight." He thanks her with a white flower he had picked this morning and she shyly takes it, looking at him for a fleeting moment before scurrying to return to her duties. 

The Prince does as she has said, and although the calf bucks, fights and sprints, it eventually relents and lets itself be led to the pasture without being able to escape.

The old man is so furious that he is exhausted, heaving and huffing from his rage. He tells Deacy that there is no more work to do, that he is to go to sleep. All that is asked of him is that he shows his hand to the old man when he wakes. Again there is no doubt in the young man's mind that somehow, someway this is a trick, although he does not know what.

The maiden falls in step behind him as he walks to his room and whispers the truth of the matter to him, although he almost wishes he didn't know. "He means to eat you, you must not give him your hand," she says as soon as she thinks only he can hear. She thinks as they walk before telling what he should do "Instead you are to heat the spade of a shovel in your hearth, this way you can hold onto the wood of the handle without getting burned."

She is more clever than the raven and wiser than the owl and he thanks her discreetly as he goes into his room. As the night dawns in this silent place she gives the softest of knocks upon his door but without anything else to hear but the breathing of his lungs and the pounding of his heart, he does hears it. It is the shovel that will be needed and again he thanks her although again he has nothing to offer her, having stayed inside since commanded so he merely strokes the top of her hand before pressing the lightest of barely there kisses to her knuckles. 

He goes to sleep and in the morning it is again her knock that wakes him early so that he might place the shovel into the heat of the hearth. It is only when he hears the sound of the loud man's footsteps that he pulls it by its handle and hides it in his bed next to him, careful to not accidentally burn himself. 

When the old man barges in, the sun has not yet risen and only the blue of dawn barely lights the room. Deacy wriggles out the shovel and proposes it to the man. The old man has grown cunning and wise to Deacy's plans and knows it is not the boy's hand that is being offered. So he leaves without touching it and without saying anything. While anxiety lives harshly in his breast, the old man does not return and morning dawns relentlessly.

Deacy hesitantly makes his way to the the main room again, weary of what might await him next. The old man tells him that he is so satisfied and impressed with his work that to show his gratitude, he is offering Deacy his daughter's hand in marriage. 

He's overjoyed to hear this, he does however also fear that if he stays a moment longer the old man might add a terrible and cruel caveat and so runs off to her. She has long since dressed and readied herself for the day, she in the kitchen reliving the embers into a fire and preparing breakfast. "'Your father' he just said- he just told me, that we are to be wed," he says in a normal volume, for once not whispering. 

Her eyes widen in fear although thankfully it is not at the proposition of being married, or at least married to him. Instead she whispers, "I fear he means to get rid of me, that he has no more use for me, for he may have discovered my secret."

'Secret?' John wonders.

"That I have been helping you, that I am the reason you were able to accomplish all the impossible tasks set to you. Even if not, I fear a marriage would be to bind you to this place."

She looks around frantically, at the pots and pans, the fire, the food, but the solution she seeks is not here. The young woman gets a hold of herself, calming her breathing and closing her eyes, focusing, thinking, on the problem at hand. "Here is what you are to do," she finally figures out, "You are to go the white-faced calf and cut off its head, you should- you will find within the animal a red ball. You are to bring that ball to me."

He nods and although he does not understand he does as he is told, fetching an axe from the shed and then finding the calf in the pasture where he had left him, at least now he doesn't have to worry about the cow mother interrupting him. It is grim work but it must be done and as she had instructed inside of the cow's neck, shining and pulsing with light, there is a red ball. He retrieves it and thinks to brings it to her in the kitchen.

However she meets him at the shed as he goes to hide the bloody, unwashed axed. She has a sack over her back and another at her feet, he instantly understands throwing the other over his shoulder. The young maiden looks at him concerned and worried but she is looking at him, truly looks at him in his eyes and there appears to be hope there. What they are doing next is risky but it is clear a risk she is willing to take. She takes the red ball from him and gently throws in into the air, it expands as it floats there before guiding them as they flee from the house.

They run from the farmstead but rather than the direction Deacy remembers them coming through and yet soon they are again in the cave, and Deacy knows that if he had only trusted his sense, he would have gone astray. Once in the cave, the ball's light dims and it floats gently back into her hand, guiding them no further. Getting out the caves is easy enough, they simply follow the direction of the light and most shockingly the direction of the noise. It's nothing special but its the thousand sounds that make up a forest, birds cawing, leaves rustling in the wind, a river flowing, even animals scampering. It is all around them, alive and moving. 

The maiden is so shocked and stunned at what she must have not heard since she was only an infant of one year old, that she covers her ears, her eyes wide. He thinks that she will need to sit and absorb this brand new world but she is braver than that, she speaks in a halting volume, "We should continue, he will eventually notice that we are gone and we do not want to be here when he will come after us."

And she bravely takes a step forward, and another one, lowering her hands as she takes in the noise of the world. He offers her his arm and she eagerly takes it as they begin to walk. "I was told I was given to him for my father got lost in these woods." 

"Yes, that is what I have heard too," Deacy says and lets that statement sink in, what it means. That he has come all this way, gone through all of this risk, for her, for a chance to rescue her. 

"How will we find our way?" She asks, she has yet to be satisfied with hope when they are still in danger. She stops Deacy where she holds onto his arm and crouches. "I brought as much food as I dared but if we are lost in this woods for long, it might be best if we collect more. This plant is too young but it appears to be a pea stalk, if we could find one that has born fruit-"

"But look," Deacy says as more and more pea stalks line a path. "I am the one that has left them here. I thought when I should rescue you that they would guide me out of the forest. I did not know I would be gone so long but now these sprouts will do just as well."

"That is terribly clever of you."

"I do try but I can only hope to be as clever as you. This was my plan but it was my only plan, once I was there, once I was in his domain, it was only with you that I could prevail."

Through the forest the young couple continues, the path of pea sprouts guiding their way out of the forest. Once they have made it out through the rather circular journey, Deacy leads them to the King's palace. 

The next morning, the old man awakes to find his house empty. At first he thinks that the young people were not eager to get married, for after all it is hard to know that from one day to the next your life will be different. Yet after he has searched and found the young woman's clothes have been taken, he realizes that they have fled. 

He's enraged! Frustrated with their actions, he storms over to his stable. He passes the cow and horse, making his way further into his barn, for in the last three stalls hold goblins. He summons the goblins from the first stalls after the couple. These acts of magic cause the red ball, still in the maiden's hands to pulse. 

They have traveled far but they are still not safe from him and so she proposes that she ought to change into a brook and him into a fish. Deacy agrees reluctantly, scared of what magic can do and surprised to hear she has some. But it turns out she does not for it is the red ball that changes her as she has so proposed. The goblins follow their masters magic to the brook but all they see is the water and fish and so leave empty handed back to their master. 

Angry at their failure, the old man goes to the second stall in his barn and sends those goblins after the couple with the instruction to drink the brook dry and catch the fish. 

Before they can find the couple however the maiden has the ball turn herself into a rosebush and Prince into one of its roses. The goblins go to where they are but do not see a fish nor a brook and so return empty handed to their master. They tell him when they return that there was nothing there but a rosebush with a lone rose. 

The old man grows even angrier, he unlatches the door to his third and largest stall to summon his mightiest of goblins. He unleashes them and tells them to tear up that rose bush.

Before they can find the couple however the maiden turns herself into a breeze and Deacy into a fly. The goblins again depart but the girl returns into the shape of a woman and laments. "No matter what form we take, he and his magic will always be able to find us. The only thing for me to do is to go back home, and for you to return to your home as well."

Deacy pleads with her to change her mind, for he has done this for her, but when that does not work he tries to convince her that they must stay together and marry. She argues until there are tears in her eyes but when she realizes that neither of them will relent, she rolls the ball through the bottom gape of a peasant's cottage door and asking it vanish her inside. 

He is unarmed and can not break down the door, but even if he could she would find some other way to allude him with magic, so he respects her desire and continues on his journey. He can not love her for her cleverness and then fault her for what she thinks is best, though it weighs heavily on him. She has asked him to head 'home' and that is very much where he tends to go, having led them so far towards the palace. 

When he presents himself to the castle, they do not deny who he is, the son of the King and heir to the throne. In fact they welcome him thinking he is here because his father, the King, has just died. On his deathbed, the late monarch confessed to switching the child they had thought of as the princess and had given his actual child, his son away to deceive the stranger. 

While the Prince finds that he resents having been sent to grow up without the education he will need, he also understands why it was done, that it was done to save his life and he mourns this man that was a beloved King. 

Fortunately he is not to be King right now but rather to be Heir Prince while the Regent will teach him how to wield his power. Deacy makes it clear that he will not wholly rule as his father, for his first act is to publicly tell his new subjects all that has transpired. The people hear the tale and all from the scurry maid to his wisest of councilors, think that his clever maiden should be made his Queen. 

THE END

Word travels and spreads until it even gets back to the old man. The old man is tired of being tricked and duped and so appears before the crowned Prince in his courtyard as a dragon but Deacy is prepared, especially in the heart of his Kingdom and has his men shoot the beast down with iron arrows and strike it with iron tipped pikes. The old man screams and writhes and turns himself into a phoenix, the bird of flame and immortality that can not be touched by mortal weapons. 

It seems that all is lost, that they should despair, for how can they kill that which is untouchable but rain comes upon the scene faster than the lighting strikes and the old man must change again or have his flame and life be extinguished. He roars and screams but arrows pierce this chimera form and the old man dies. A red ball rolls to the Prince's feet and he can't help but to smile and smile as the rain cloud turns itself back into the lovely maiden with her clever ways. He knows he need not fear all that he has yet to learn of ruling with her by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> In the original neither the prince nor the maiden are named and as they can not speak for like most of the story I couldn't find a way to name her that wasn't awkward so I do hope that seems reasonable.
> 
> Also the original just ends where I have written 'the end' with the Prince vowing to rescue his lady and the people agreeing but like??? bitch clearly she was rescuing him throughout the entire story but for the pea stalks. anyways justice for the maiden.


End file.
